Guild Wars 2

As we all know, the changes to fractals made them static in terms of gameplay – you can choose them and as a result easily get bored by repeating the exact same fractals everyday.

While I agree with the most repeated argument (more advanced daily system), I have a slight idea of my own that touches the core mechanics of the game – dynamic events.
Look at Ascalonian Catacombs – whenever you go there, you don’t know if a cave troll will cross your path. It’s unpredictable somehow, and therefore dynamic.

ANet so far declared 2 things that are important here:
- moving playerbase to fractals
- focusing on depth of the existing content

My suggestion is to revisit every fractal and add dynamic events in a variety of forms:

- Random (not timed) events that can (but don’t have to) appear at some point (challenge, suprise)
- Interaction event (talk with someone, use an item, read a book) (lore, depth)
- On fail (continuity)
- On victory (continuity)
- Meta events (Example: A boss wipes your party? Don’t just respawn and try again! Get imprisoned and escape somehow while making decision of facing him again or looking for alternate way of killing him! (sense of punishment + “plot twists”))

In conclusion, dynamic event system is the core part of the game and one of the main that sold and carried the game throughout it’s lifespan. Focusing on that makes the game feel fresh and much more complex than it is.

Feel free to discuss and maybe share your own ideas or examples!

No. The cave troll didn’t make Ascalonian Catacombs more interesting (except when you could get it and Kholer to fight it out) . And that will not help Fractals either.

Although right now Fractals have much room for improvement, my choice would be:

- Taking away the path of least resistance through dailies giving 3 random fractals of each tier, separating 51-75 and 76-100 (having a 1-20 daily, 21-50, 51-75 and 76-100)
- Changing the completely nonsensical instabilities like Boon Fumbler (lose boons on dodge) and No Pain, No Gain (apply boons on crit)
- Getting a recommended fractal for every of the four tiers

Though the day I get 64 (Thaumanova + Afflicted) I might reconsider doing it :P

Nilkemia.8507:

No. The cave troll didn’t make Ascalonian Catacombs more interesting (except when you could get it and Kholer to fight it out) . And that will not help Fractals either.

it was just a minor example, of course it wasn’t gamechanging, but it added some depth into the whole thing, little details. this is what this thread is about.

Any type of change based on:

- events
- awesome visuals (like some cool cynematic)
- story
- dynamic changes to the instance

will not work. Why? Because there is only so many times you can run any type of content until you get tired of it.

See that awsome, fresh, fantastic, suprising, better than anything you have ever seen cinematic/event/storyrevelation? Wasn’t it the best thing you’ve seen the last 5 years in gaming? Now go watch it 100 more times.

The only way to make fractals interesting and increase their longevity is:

- improve the direct and indirect gameplay involved

For starters remove the “pick any fractal you want” and replace it with a selection of different fractal options daily, or make it a mix of both. For example players get to complete one of the following dailies:

- any 3 fractals of choice -> weakest reward
- random daily mix of 3 short length fractals -> weak reward
- random daily mix of 3 short-medium length fractals -> okay reward
- random daily mix of 3 short-long length fractals -> higehst reward

This essentially prevents players from rerunning braindead content and burning out on 1-2 fractals. It also allows for player input on how much time they want to spend that day on fractals. This specific example also adds a small lottery element for the higher difficulties, you might get lucky and get a string of short fractals.

Only changes along these lines or inline with this train of thought will actually work.

Cyninja.2954:

Any type of change will not work. Why? Because there is only so many times you can run any type of content until you get tired of it.

FTFY.

There aren’t enough fractal islands for randomization to break up the monotony. We’d need at least twice the current number for your suggestion to work.

I also don’t get the impression that most players are particularly excited by varied game play and complex mechanics in instances. Everything eventually becomes second nature ‘facerolls’, or too much of a hassle for the average player to enjoy.

I think it’s not so much gameplay that’s lacking so much as a form of progression tied to each fractal. A title and back item skin for each would be a good place to start. Even re-skins would suffice, imo. These could be awarded in the form of collections, simple ‘beat x fractal x times at x level’ type or other achievements.

while i agree with the gameplay improvement suggestion, i still believe every fractal should be revisited to give some more depth into it. if you rush then sure you don’t need extra events/stuff/easter eggs, but if you take a pause like i do (and im sure many others), its fun to explore so i’d like to have fractals rich in ‘side-content’